Vegan Vagina, Libido, and Keeping it Moist: Creating a Happy Yoni

Breeze Harper

Yup, that’s right.

I said “vagina.”

Stop being squeemish. (LOL)

For real, though, lest’s talk about vaginal health. Yea, it’s a broad topic, but I am going to focus on maintaining vaginal moisture through herbs and food.

They sell so much lube in the stores, I have always wondered if it is ‘normal’ that so many vaginas in the USA have problems with ‘dryness’. I mean, what did people do before AquaLube?

Throughout my life, I have talked to so many females adults, sexually active or not, who are having major problems with finding a way to be wet all the time. Many experience chaffing and have to use personal lubricant just to walk around comfortably.

So, here I am, Sistah Vegan, about to talk about some suggestions to kept that vegan vagina’s moisture in harmony. And yea, you can consider these suggestions even if you aren’t vegan. But I wanted to focus on vegan vaginas more because I have also spoken to a significant number of females who have transitioned into veganism and then make the observation that their libidos are non-existent and/or they are having problems with vaginal wetness. It’s not the vegan diet, it’s probably just the fact that you aren’t getting what you need in your diet.

1. Dammit, drink at least 70 oz of water per day. And this is if you are NOT even pregnant or lactating. If you are lactating and or pregnant (or both), drink at least a gallon a day. The water can’t be some dead chlorinated liquid. Filtered water is healthier. Stop drinking anything and everything that makes your body acidic. Stop the sodas and coffee and try to purify through water and reproductive health balancing teas.
2. What herbal teas? These: Red Clover (don’t take if you are pregnant), Nettles Leaf, Red Raspberry Leaf, Oatstraw. I personally don’t do all of these and prefer drinking 3-4 cups of Nettles leaf tea. Make sure you simmer your Nettles in boiling water for 3 minutes to neutralize the stinging component.
3. Slippery Elm. The name says it all. Slippery Elm is from the bark of a tree and can be made into a tea or a porridge. It is highly nutritious and has a plethora of medicinal uses. It is very hydrating and after taking it for a few days, you will notice that your vegan vagina will be oozing vaginal fluid.
4. Okra. That’s right. That slimy stuff my dad used to make in boiling water is actually good for your vegan vagina. Queen Afua, a vegan raw foodist who promotes whole foods veganism to put your vagina back into harmony, recommends raw okra in her book Sacred Woman. In Sacred Woman: A Guide to Healing the Feminine Body, Mind, and Spirit
   She wants you to chop it up and mix it with flax seed oil and eat it…raw. That’s right. Don’t complain about the taste and stop with that look of horror on your face. LOL. If that is too much for you, try baking okra on low, lathered in olive oil for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Eat it several times a week. If you’re pregnant, it’s excellent to eat throughout the pregnancy. That nasty slimy sh*t that used to freak me out when my dad ate it is REALLY healthy. That slime gets in your system and helps ease labor because it makes your vaginal canal uber slimey to pass that big headed baby through.
5. Chia Seeds. Only in USAmerica would a company take such a sacred seed and turn it into a freaking chia pet. Seriously, WTF!? Well, that Chia Pet is a distraction from that real purpose of chia seeds. Not only are these little seeds packed with tons of protein, calcium, and EFAs, they are amazing in restoring and maintaining the moisture in your body. This little black seeds hold up to 10 times their own volume in water. Soak your seeds, about 1-2 tbsp a day in 10-15 oz of water for 15 minutes before drinking the chia seed drink. People eat chia seeds without soaking or grinding the seeds. Both aren’t a good idea to do. You need to chew seeds to assimilate them and they need to be soaked in water or you’ll destroy your tummy and feel like poop . I personally like to blend the water and chia seed mix on high in my Vitamix (you need REALLY good blender do grind and blend these seeds) for about 90 seconds.
6. Okay, if you’re vegan you better be eating EFAs. Chia seeds are high in Omega 3-6-9. But you also need to be getting those good fats and DHA in your diet. Take a vegan source of DHA. I take 400 – 600 mg of Deva Algae based DHA each day (I’m nursing, that is why. You probably just need 200-400 if you aren’t nursing or aren’t preggers). I eat 1 avocado a day as well and about 1/4 c of hempseeds.
7. By far, I think Maca Root Powder by Sol Raiz Organics has had a profound effect on me. I have spoken about it many times in the past. It’s great to balance the hormones in a way that makes your libido healthy. A lot of women experience low libido for many reasons, but one of these major reasons is that the hormonal system is not in balance. This could be because of postpartum issues or you could be entering menopause. I recommend Maca Root Powder. And not just any one, but the one offered by Sol Raiz Organics. They offer this species: Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon. It is important that that is the one you take. Many stores sell different variations of Maca, so be sure you’re getting the Lepidium Peruvianum Chacon.
8. Exercise! At least 20-30 minutes a day.
9. Spicy food. Come on, I can’t be the only one who feels ‘freaky’, once I overdose on spicy Indian or Pakistani food. Fresh ginger, cayenne, and turmeric increase libido and vaginal wetness. Garlic too, but it’s really quite ‘fragrant’ and it’s hard to get your freak on with your girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse if you smell like a garlic pizza. But, if that turns your lover on, go for it!
10. Sleep and relaxation. Make sure you get 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

I have to say that of the 10, the top 3 that I really suggest are the Slippery Elm, drinking a lot of healthy water, and the Maca Root.

If you want to learn more about sexual health and increasing your vagina’s happiness as a vegan wombman, I recommend reading the chapter in the Sistah Vegan book by Angelique Shofar, who beautifully tells you the vegan foods to eat to make a happy yoni. The chapter is called “The Food and Sex Link.” You can buy a copy here: Sistah Vegan: Food, Identity, Health, and Society: Black Female Vegans Speak .

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or certified practitioner of health. Please consult your practitioner before trying anything on this suggestion list.

Sistah vegan on Maca, gettin’ your vegan libido on, and finishing her PhD

 

In this video I talk about Sol Raiz organice Maca powder that I have been taking to create healthy libido, postpartum, and grow my hair back. I also update people on how I’m trying to handle “nursing on demand” and the challenges of being the primary caretaker of 2 children under the age of 3, while living in a nation in which there isn’t much structural and institutional support to help mothers (or the primary caretakers of pre-school age children which usually do end up being females).

The brand of Maca I by is by Sol Raiz:
solraizorganics.com/

 

Video available:: Afrocentrism, vegan methodology of the racially oppressed, and revolutionary black feminism

Last night I spoke at UC Berkeley, and explained the Afrocentric approach to veganism that is race-gender conscious, decolonial, and revolutionary black feminist. I did this because I wanted to explain that there are more than just Eurocentric philosophical ‘ethics’ behind why some people choose veganism. By Eurocentrism, I mean the philosophical canon of ‘ethics and animals’ that dominate the mainstream academic literature in the USA. While Eurocentric philosophy focuses on the ‘ethics’ of non-human animal consumption and non-human animal exploitation, Afrocentric veganism (through Queen Afua) focuses on how veganism becomes a decolonial tool against the unethical abduction and enslavement of Africans and the institutional of chattel slavery; an unethical institution that took away their original plant-centered dietary philosophy and “forcing” them to eat a carnicentric diet. This is what a vegan methodology of the racially oppressed can look like! Video of talk and Q&A :

Part II

If you comment in a way that is obvious you didn’t watch the video, but are “annoyed” that I am looking at race, whiteness, and decolonial theories as a way to understand vegan consciousness, I will not post your comments. For me, it simply doesn’t make sense to receive passive aggressive comments from people who don’t know anything about my work, haven’t watched the video, but then feel like they are “experts” on the subject matter and then wish to “educate” me about my “incorrect”  4+ years of dissertation research and 35 years of racialized-gendered bodily experience as a black female in the USA.  If it’s not enough that I have been “educated”  at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and now University of California, learned how to engage in qualitative research, and document ongoing themes in vegan cultural practices (themes that are influenced by race, class, gender, whiteness, neoliberalism), then what more can I offer? (I’m being funny with educated in quotations, because of the mainstream assumption that if you just “educate” non-white folk through the “proper” Western university educational system, they will “assimilate” and agree with the perceptions of the white middle class status quo. But if they don’t, they must simply be ‘irrational’ and ‘angry’, and must be “educated more”)

Challenging Our Race, Cisgender, etc. Privileges: Vegan Activism Beyond a Single Issue

Would you Harbor Me? Vegan Activism Beyond a Single Issue, Building Coalitions, and Challenging our Race, Gender, etc., Privileges.

In this video blog cast, I speak about building coalitions, reflecting on how lack of awareness around one’s identity/positionality privileges could actually be fostering suffering, and how to confront the discomfort around “uncomfortable” transformative challenges one may face as not just a vegan activist, but human being attempting to do social justice work.